Optical telecommunications networks include a number of optical devices, including fiber optic cables that may extend over long distances. As light travels through the fiber optic cable, it may become dispersed. To correct for dispersion, optical devices such as fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) are often installed in fiber optic networks to improve performance. These and other issues have led to the development of specialty optical fiber products, which have performance characteristics that are different from standard optical fibers. Another type of optical device is a pump stabilization grating, which may be used in optical amplifiers.
To insure that optical devices, such as fiber Bragg gratings, will perform as expected, the devices are typically tested to determine their characteristics. This may be done, e.g., by splicing a fiber Bragg grating into a measurement system using quick splicing fiber interconnect devices, such as the optical fiber splice available from 3M Company of St. Paul, Minn. under the designation FIBRLOK™ Universal Splice. Although this basic system may be useful, if different devices are tested using the same fiber splice, or if different fiber splices are used over time, then the losses or distortions caused by the spliced connections is different in successive tests. In other words, the actual optical characteristics of a device may not be accurately detected because losses or distortion due to the splice would mistakenly be interpreted by the test system as a characteristic of the component. In extreme cases, losses due to splices could make the device characterization appear to be unsatisfactory when compared to a specification, and thus a good device could be thought to have failed to meet the specification. For these and other reasons, a new system and method for characterizing optical devices such as fiber Bragg gratings would be desirable.